Video Games Are Great!

As many unschooling parents know, trust is the key to living the unschooling life. Learning to trust my 17-year-old son's osmosis-like learning journey hasn't always been easy. But I always trusted that his playing video games was a wonderful and fun way to learn all sorts of things.

All I had to do to validate myself was play the games with him. I learned firsthand the amount of complex thinking involved. There is so much to consider and to be aware of in order to play the games that my

"When kids are asked, in focus groups and surveys,
what they like about video games, they generally
talk about freedom, self-direction, and competence.[11]
In the game, they make their own decisions and strive to
meet challenges that they themselves have chosen."

middle-aged brain would feel a strong urge sometimes to opt-out of playing.

I continue to be awed at his ability to create and problem-solve his way through the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPG) he so enjoys. But rarely do I get a lot of cheers from other parents when I advocate unlimited digital gaming for all. 

The article titled, "The Many Benefits, for Kids, of Playing Video Games," cites a study by the IBM Corporation that concluded the leadership skills exercised within MMORPGs are essentially the same as those needed to run a modern company.

So I thought the article by Peter Gray might be a great read for any parent still struggling with all the fears around this issue or for any parent who may find themselves being the only one in a circle of moms who thinks video games are great. :) The link to the article is at the end of this post. The quote below is Gray's response to the most common fears around playing video games.

"The most common complaints about video games are that they (1) are socially isolating, (2) reduce opportunities for outdoor activities and thereby lead to obesity and poor physical health, and (3) promote violence in kids, if the games have violent content. On the face of it, of course, the first two of these claims should be truer of book reading than of video gaming. Concerning the third claim, I don't see any obvious reason why pretend murder of animated characters in video games should be any more likely to provoke real murder than, say, reading Shakespeare's account of Hamlet's murder of his stepfather. Yet we make kids read Hamlet in school." 

"Kids who are really free know what is best for them,
especially concerning how they should spend their free time.
Every kid is different, just as every adult is, and we can't get
into their heads and find out just what they are getting
out of something that we don't understand."

Click on link below:


http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/freedom-learn/201201/the-many-benefits-kids-playing-video-games